


The Haunting of Kree Manor

by Lynn_Forster



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Everybody Lives, F/M, Ghost Stories, Ghosts, Haunted Houses, Haunted!AU, Horror, M/M, POV First Person, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:06:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26996395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynn_Forster/pseuds/Lynn_Forster
Summary: When Wylan inherits his father's uncle's old manor, the Crows decide to spend a little vacation there, but they soon discover there are dangerous, supernatural forces that live into the house and don't want to be disturbed.Each member of the group faces a frightening, personal experience and, on the seventh night, they're all eventually forced to flee.After a week, they reunite in Van Eck's manor to talk about those scary events, telling everything to two of their closest friends and revealing personal details they never shared before.
Relationships: Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik
Comments: 18
Kudos: 28





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Here I am with another long fic.  
> Yes, I know I have to update "The Lost Goddess" and the Post Crooked Kingdom Collection, I'll try to do it soon.  
> This story is inspired to two Netflix series: "Haunted" and "The Haunting of Hill House"/"The Haunting of Bly Manor".  
> Some little explanations: here, Matthias' sister is alive and also one of the protagonists, while Helèna Parr and Fèran Sahin are two original characters (Fèran belongs to a friend).  
> This is the prologue. From the next chapter, each Crow will tell their own story in First Person Narrator.  
> Well, hope you'll like this, thanks to everyone who will read!
> 
> Lynn

A reddish light came in from the large windows, painting the walls and the objects in the living room, reflecting on the glasses of the pendulum clock.  
There were ten people into the room. Eleven, with the baby girl who was sleeping into a white and pink cradle.  
Four of them sat on the larger sofa, two were on the smaller one and the others had taken a seat on the soft armchairs.  
A large, white wolf was sleeping on the red carpet and, for several moments, his light snoring was the only sound that could be heard.  
Finally, Wylan, who was sitting on one of the armchairs, between Jesper and Kaz, cleared his throat, nervously rubbing his pale hands against the expensive fabric of his pants.  
"Do you... uh... do you want some tea, or..."  
"We had some tea an hour ago, Wy..." Jesper replied calmly, gently touching his boyfriend's hand.  
The redhead boy sighed: "True... sorry..."  
"It's okay."  
The air was filled with tension. Some stories were... well, they were so hard to tell.  
Fèran Sahin, sat on the smaller sofa, next to Kuwei, straightened his back and crossed his muscled arms. His long, dark hair fell down on his shoulders, his blind eyes were fixed ahead, in Kaz's direction.  
He was a Suli young man, of Matthias' age, who had joined the Dregs the year before.  
“So... that house in Hanraat Bay...” he started. “An old property of Van Eck's family, situated on a little island...”  
“Yes,” Wylan murmured. “My father's old uncle lived there. He almost never left it. Only older people, here in Ketterdam, have memories of him and are still used to whisper about... legends and scary tales about him and his lonely house. For the others... Karl Van Eck is just a name like another... and should you ask them about Horen Island and Kree Manor, they would reply with an interrogative glance...”  
“I have never heard of it before, indeed” Heléna said. “Well... of course, never before you talked me about it.”  
At twenty-two, she was one of the youngest and most famous doctors on earth. A long, dark braid fell on her right shoulder; her features were slightly sharp and the left side of her face, from the chin to the cheekbone, was covered with scars, that she was once used to hide behind a mask.  
Matthias, who was sitting next to her, on the larger sofa, along with Nina and his sister Inga, gently touched the young doctor's shoulder: “After what we saw there... I think there's a good reason why people chose to forget Kree Manor...”  
“It's a shame,” Kaz grunted, his hands clenched on the handle of his cane. “And a waste. That house could be a great investment... an ancient, suggestive manor, on a quiet island... the garden had even a lake and a labyrinth...”  
“We wanted to make an hotel, or something like that, out of it.” Jesper explained. “And we thought it would have been a good idea, to spend some days there, checking the conditions of the house, writing down some projects... it was meant to be a useful vacation.”  
“We were all together in the city...” Kuwei added, massaging his own temples with his fingers. “It should have been funny...”  
“And it ended up being scary and dangerous” Fèran finished.  
“You have no idea” Nina snorted, crossing her arms . “I still feel thrills down my back, only hearing the name of that house...”  
“Trassel immediately disliked it” Inga said, shivering.  
“Guys,” the Suli boy sighed. “Don't feel forced to tell me and Lena what happened, if you're not ready to do it.”  
The Crows exchanged a series of quick glances, then, Inej shook her head: “No, it's okay. We're here for it. There are even some things we hadn't shared yet... so... who wants to start?”  
Silence fell into the room.  
Sighing, Inej relaxed her shoulders: “Fine. I'll go first.”  
  
  



	2. INEJ. The masked figure (Part 1)

We arrived at Kree Manor on Friday, late in the morning. We moored the boats at the little dock on the Southern side of the island and, after walking through a thick grove, we finally arrived at a huge garden.  
There were no gates,n or walls, around the house. All we saw was a large labyrinth, made of hedges with small, dark green leafs, a quiet lake, a dry fountain and many, many statues.  
And the manor was... it was fascinating and terrifying at the same time. It was so big it almost looked like a castle. The walls were old and dark, but still in good conditions, and its roofs had pointy, sharp shapes.  
And the windows... there were so many windows you had the impression to stand in front of a monster with thousands, dead eyes.  
“Well,” Kaz said, registering every details with his wary glance. “Old style, looks a bit creepy... but it has a lot of potential. Painting the outside walls with lighter colours will make it more appealing. Let's check the situation inside.”  
I exchanged a quick smile with Nina, who was holding Aenya in her arms. The little girl was playing with her mother's necklace and seemed not to mind the scary building in front of us.  
“Do you think we can take a bath in the lake?” Nina asked me. “The weather is quite hot, these days...”  
“I don't know...”  
“Yes, we can,” Wylan answered, fixing the bag on his shoulder. “The first and last time I met my uncle, he told me he was used to swim every evening in the lake, even in winter. It's definitely cleaner than the sea in the bays of Ketterdam...”  
“Well, I bet only Kaz's soul is dirtier than the bays of Ketterdam” Jesper giggled, making Matthias nod with enthusiasm.  
“Do you want to enter the house or are you going to lose your time standing there and saying idiocies?” Kaz echoed, giving us a severe look.  
Hiding an amused smile, we reached the door entrance but, when Wylan inserted the key into the lock, a growl caught our attention, making us turn around.  
Trassel had taken a few steps backwards, baring his teeth, his white, large body in a defensive position.  
Inga and Matthias immediately knelt next to him, caressing his fur.  
“Trass!”  
“Hey, mate, what is it? What's the problem?”  
“He seems to dislike the house...” Kuwei noticed.  
“Well, I'm sure he'll think differently, when we'll turn it into a luxurious hotel” Kaz replied. “Stop losing time, now.”  
  
  
  
We went swimming in the afternoon, after lunch. We had no idea how it was possible, but the water of the lake was so clean... I mean, not a single leaf or trace of dirt on the surface. It looked like someone was taking care of it everyday, but... it was absurd, since Wylan's uncle had died weeks before and we were the first ones to visit the house, after his death. Well... at least, it was what we believed...  
Jesper, Wylan and Kuwei were taking a swimming competition, Nina and Matthias were... well, sharing a moment together and Inga was playing with Aenya, pretending to give her some swimming lessons or placing her on Trassel's back.  
I dipped my feet in the water, enjoying the refreshing sensation on my skin, then, I turned my head, calling Kaz who was still standing on the shore. He was the only one who was still out of the water and his mind seemed to be far away from there.  
“Kaz?”  
His dark eyes met mine.  
“Go ahead without me,” he replied. “Maybe I'll join you later.”  
“The water is amazing!” I said, taking a few steps ahead and instinctively looking down. I didn't meet my reflection, on the surface. I didn't even met a face.  
A dark shape, something that looked like a hooded figure with a white mask was staring at me. The mask had an old design and... and a creepy smile, like an ugly, empty half-moon between the cheekbones.  
I blinked confusedly, taking a little step backwards and... and then I found myself staring at my own reflection.  
“Inej, are you okay?”  
I nodded, without turning my head, and, for a moment, my heart lost a beat when I heard Nina asking: “Hey, who's there?”  
I frantically tried to individuate the masked figure on the surface of the water, but I soon noticed my friend was staring at the opposite shore.  
“Who?” Jesper asked. “Where?”  
Nina pointed at something. One of her arms was still wrapped around Matthias' neck.  
“I saw a figure, behind that tree.”  
“It was wearing a mask?” I instinctively asked, the words came out of my mouth before I could even realized it.  
Nina shook her head: “A mask? No. But it was a woman, I'm almost sure.”  
“Do you want me to go to check?” Kaz asked. “I'm the only one still on the land...”  
The young woman hesitated for a while, then, she shook her head: “No, don't worry. I probably imagined it.”  
Part of me wanted to tell my friends about the vision I had a few moments before. Part of me wanted to tell Kaz yes, please, go to check, I don't feel safe.  
But... I don't know why, no sounds came out of my mouth. And once I completely immersed into the water, that weird feeling was washed away.  
At least... until that same night....  
  
  
  
I chose an elegant, small room for the night. It was on the third floor and it directly communicated with Kaz's.  
There were a large, rectangular window, with a thick curtain; a tall, antique wardrobe that I struggled to open, the first time I tried, and... in front of the bed, on the opposite wall, there was a huge mirror. Well, actually there were three mirrors, the larger one was fixed in the middle, the other two were its wings and I could move them, so I could reflect my entire figure from different perspectives.  
I loved it. I spent several minutes, wearing my nightgown and braiding my hair, playing with the movable parts of the mirror. And when I went to bed, after wishing goodnight to my friends, I decided to let the reflective wings wide open.  
I fell asleep almost immediately but... I woke up a few hours later. It was almost the four o'clock in the morning.  
I tried to grab the glass of water on the bedside table, when a sudden thrill ran down my back. Before I could see it, I felt there was someone in my room.  
I immediately jumped out of the bed, the knife I had hidden under the pillow in my hand. The temperature in the room suddenly dropped, making me shiver, silver clouds of vapour came out of my mouth.  
For a moment, I told myself I was still sleeping and having a very weird dream. Nothing made sense, in that moment.  
And then... I instinctively looked at the mirror and, without realizing it, I approached it, my legs were moving at their own will.  
I have no idea how much time I spent in front of that mirror, staring at myself, my fingers clenching the knife.  
Suddenly, something moved in the shadow, behind me. Next to my bed, a tall, dark figure raised on their feet.  
My heart lost a beat: it was... them. The masked person. I see them clearly, through the mirror.  
I quickly turned around, raising my knife, ready to fight, but... but no one was there. Was it possible I had had a hallucination twice in a day?  
The air was cold, around me. My skin was filled with thousands, small chills.  
I turned to the mirror again, I wanted to close the movable wings to hide it.  
A scream from my mouth: the masked person was there, right behind me. Their hand caught my shoulder and I... I could feel it, I could feel the cruel grip. Sometimes... sometimes I still feel it.  
My knife fell on the floor and somehow I managed to get free, running to the door that communicate with Kaz's room and almost breaking through it, calling his name.  
In less than a moment, I was in his arms, he had probably woken up the first time I screamed.  
“Inej! Inej, what is it?”  
My throat was like an iced, desert land. Somehow, I managed to tell him there was someone in my room.  
Kaz let me go, he grabbed his cane and entered my room, his eyes were dark, furious, burning flames. I felt I had to go with him, to help him to find the intruder, but my limbs were frozen and everything I could do was waiting, crouched on the floor.  
“There's no one, here,” he finally said, coming back to his room and handing me my knife.  
“I... I hadn't imagined it!” I immediately cried. “There was someone, a tall, human figure, with a white mask... they touched my shoulder, I felt it! It was real, kaz, I know that!”  
“Hey, hey...” he whispered, kneeling in front of me, touching my skin for a brief moment. “You're... freezing...”  
“The temperature in my room suddenly dropped,” I sobbed. “I know it's absurd, these spring days have been hotter than usual, but, when I woke up... it was like being in winter, and...”  
“Do you want to sleep here, with me?”  
Shivering, I nodded. Kaz locked the door that separated our rooms, then, he helped me stand up, taking me to his bed.  
We laid down in the same position we sleep in, when we share a bed: back to back, so no one can catch us by surprise.  
And... contrary to my expectations, I slept well until morning. No masked people came to bother my dreams.  
  
  
  
For a couple of days, things seemed to go better. There was a lot to do, to check, to tidy in that house, we alternated work with enjoyable activities and this helped me a bit to keep the masked figure out of my mind for the most of the time.  
But I couldn't help but feel a thrill every time I entered my room.  
I kept the movable wings of the mirror closed, I was afraid to see again that person behind me, if I dared to look at my reflection again.  
For a moment, I almost tried to tell myself that, maybe, the masked person wasn't real, that my mind had simply played me a cruel trick. But I soon discovered I wasn't the only one who experienced something scary and weird, in that house.  
Wylan complained about objects that moved, disappeared and appeared in other places, Kuwei said he heard kids' steps and voices, Trassel was often in a bad mood... one by one, we all became wary and nervous and we tried to keep our minds busy as much as we could.  
On the third night, I woke up again. I was afraid to see the masked figure, but, somehow, I realised everything was quiet. The glass on my bedside table was empty. I didn't remember I had drunk all the water, but I didn't mind much about it and I went down to the kitchen, to fill it again.  
The kitchen was on the ground floor, on the west wing of the house. To reach it from the stairway, I had to walk down the ample entrance hall, then, there were two other smaller aisles, the second one directly led to the kitchen.  
When I arrived at the entrance hall, my attention was immediately caught by something, or better, someone who was lying on the ground, face up, with legs slightly apart and a hand rested on the stomach.  
My eyes widened and, for a moment, I almost forgot how to breathe.  
“Nina!” I gasped, running to my friend and kneeling next to her. “Nina, what are you doing here? Nina, can you hear me?”  
I frantically checked if she was hurt, if she was still breathing... and I soon realized she actually seemed to be okay, to sleep quite peacefully.  
When I touched her cheek again, she finally opened her eyes, letting a little moan out of her mouth and blinking confusedly.  
“Inej?” she murmured. “What are you doing in my room?”  
“Oh... I... we're not in your room...” I replied. “We're on the ground floor, on the entrance hall... can you see the entrance door?”  
She slowly moved her head, focusing the environment all around us, then, she simply said: “Oh...”  
I tried to add something, when heavy footsteps announced someone was coming downstairs. Matthias' voice reached our ears.  
“Nina!” he called, trying to keep his voice low. “Nina, love?”  
“She's here!” I replied, whispering.  
His blue eyes widened and his face became pale, when he saw his wife laid on the floor.  
“Nina! Oh Djel, oh Djel, love, are you hurt? Are you...”  
“I'm fine...” she lazily murmured, while we were helping her to sit up. “Take me to bed.”  
“I found her here” I explained. “Maybe she has walked in her sleep...”  
“I think so...” Matthias sighed, giving a worried glance in the direction of the staircase. “She... she walked downstairs while sleeping... Djel...”  
He took her in his arms: “I'll take her back to bed... are you okay?”  
“Yes,” I showed him the glass. “I was just going to take some water.”  
“Okay. Thank you, Inej. Goodnight.”  
“Goodnight.”  
I stood up, trying to ignore the uneasy sensation that was growing in my chest, and I walked to the kitchen, silence surrounded me.  
I poured fresh water in the glass, I drank it, then I half-filled the glass again, walking back to my room.  
I was at the end of the second aisle, I had almost reached the entrance hall, when silence was broken by a whisper behind my back.  
My heart jumped into my throat, while I slowly turned around, knowing what I was going to see: the masked figure was there, a few metres from me.  
The glass fell from my hand, crashing on the floor. I tried to face the terrifying apparition, but I was trembling and my throat hurt.  
“Who... who are you?” I rasped. “What do you want?”  
The figure didn't answer. They simply pointed at me, with their long, crooked finger, then they started walking towards me, slowly.  
I picked some pieces of the glass, throwing them at the scary vision, then I fled.  
Something, in my mind, was telling me to be brave, to face them and fight them. I was Captain Inej Ghafa, I had never run away from an enemy. But... but that enemy wasn't like the others.  
That enemy wasn't... human.  
The figure followed me, upstairs. It walked slowly, but it was always behind me. When I reached the third floor, I directly entered Kaz's room, locking every door and sliding into his bed.  
He was awake. His back against mine was somehow reassuring.  
“I cannot sleep too,” he whispered. “I'm ready to give a proper welcome to every piece of shit who's haunting you.”  
I didn't reply. I was trembling, I felt cold. All I wanted to do was falling asleep until morning.  
And eventually... eventually it was what I did.  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here with the first part of the first tale!  
> Hope you liked it, thanks for reading!
> 
> Lynn


	3. INEJ. The masked figure (Part 2)

On the fourth day, I took the occasion to spend as much time as I could outside of the house, helping Jesper and Wylan with gardening. I knew the masked figure could reach me everywhere, as long as I were on the island, but they had attacked me only when I was alone, so I felt a bit safer when I had my friends by my side.  
There was a surreal atmosphere, none of us, neither Jes, talked much that day. I bet we all carried fearful secrets, dark thoughts, and we really wanted to tell each other everything, getting free from those burdens, but there was something, in that place, that made the words die in our throats.  
So... we worked. Silently. Unable to talk, but in desperate need of each other's company.  
In the afternoon, I finally took courage to go inside, to make some tea. It was my turn: Jes had made some lemonade that morning and Wylan had prepared sandwiches for lunch.  
I went inside from one of the back doors, walking across a long aisle. Passing by the living room, I noticed a large figure sitting on one of the sofas.  
“Matthias?”  
He was terribly pale, his blue eyes fixed on the floor. He was cradling a sleeping Aenya in his arms and his lips were moving, but no sound came out of them.  
I approached him, sitting next to him, and I gently touched his shoulder. He seemed to awake from a terrible nightmare.  
“Inej?”  
“Are you okay?”  
I felt a bit stupid, asking that question. It was obvious he wasn't okay.  
He was wearing only a pair of pants and a white undershirt, like he had just jumped out of his bed, and there was a mix of shock and fear in his glance.  
“I...” he hesitated. “No, I'm not okay... I was sleeping and... and I saw something... I mean, I woke up and then I saw something... someone...”  
“Someone?” I asked, a painful grip on my throat. “Who?”  
The Fjerdan shivered, looking at Aenya, like he was checking she was still there. The baby slowly moved her little head against her father's chest, sighing. At least, her dreams seemed to be quiet.  
“It was a woman,” he whispered. “A terrifying woman... and... I couldn't move... she was over me and I couldn't move a single muscle...”  
I thought a bit about his words: “Well... I don't know if this is the case, but I heard about experiences like this... it's a sleep disorder... something like this...”  
“I heard about it too...” he replied. “Lena once explained me how it works... I... I don't know, maybe this is the explanation... I hope so...”  
I caressed his huge arm: “Yes... it's the most rational solution...”  
“And yet... it seemed to be so real... I wasn't afraid for myself...”  
He lowered his eyes, looking at the little girl in his arms, and my heart jumped a beat, thinking about things that could hurt that tiny creature. I gently rubbed her soft, rosy cheek with my finger, paying attention to not awake her.  
I didn't know what to answer.  
Yes, sleep disorder was the most rational solution... but that house... that house seemed to be beyond rationality.  
The masked figure that haunted me... I constantly tried to tell myself it wasn't real, but I vividly remembered its grip on my shoulder.  
I wasn't dreaming, in that moment. And my senses couldn't fail me so badly.  
“Should you need anything,” I finally told him. “Just ask. I'm here for all of you.”  
His lips slightly curled up: “Thank you, Inej. The same for me.”  
“I'm going to make some tea, now, I think we all need it. Do you know where are the others?”  
He nodded: “Nina and Kaz are tidying the loft, while Kuwei should be in the library with Inga. Do you want me to call them? I'm sure Aeny won't be bothered if I do it.”  
“Okay, thank you,” I smiled. “See you in the kitchen later.”  
I felt a thrill running down my back, when I entered the aisle that led to the kitchen. The memory from last night was so vivid, I expected to see the masked figure appearing in front of me, ready to haunt me again. But the aisle was empty.  
When I entered the kitchen... when I walked through the threshold I suddenly found myself into the darkness. I don't know how but... in a matter of moments, all the lights went off, even thought it was a sunny afternoon.  
It looked like someone had covered the windows with a thick, black curtain. It looked like... I had just walked into a dark hole, like darkness had caught me and wrapped me with its coils.  
I wandered with my hands ahead, looking for light switch, looking for the table, the stove, any point of reference... but I found nothing. And I realized... I wasn't in the kitchen any more. I was elsewhere, in a dark, hollow place... blind... vulnerable...  
And for a moment... for a moment I felt that grip, _their_ grip on my neck... that cold hand, those crooked fingers...  
I opened my mouth to scream, but I was anticipated by a furious growl.  
The darkness vanished immediately, the light came back. I was in the kitchen, next to the stove... and Trassel was behind me, his teeth still bared.  
I immediately realized he had just saved me.  
I walked towards him, I fell on my knees and I hugged him, hiding my face into his soft, white fur.  
“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice broken, my eyes wet. “Thank you...”  
  
  
  
I had a weird dream, that night. I was on a lonely stage, in an empty theatre, and I was dancing.  
I couldn't stop. There was no one around, and yet I knew I had to keep on dancing, I felt that, if I stopped, my friends would have been in danger.  
Shadows were lurking all around me. But I couldn't stop.  
There was blood, on the stage... bloodstains on the wooden floor. I couldn't stop.  
“Inej...”  
A far, feeble voice called my name. I couldn't... I couldn't stop...  
“Inej!”  
I woke up in a badly enlightened room. An empty room I didn't remember I had ever been into.  
Jesper was staring at me, his hands on my shoulders, his eyes widened. Something cold and wet touched my wrist. I soon realized it was Trassel's nose.  
“Inej, what are you doing?”  
“Jes... Tras...” I murmured. “I... where are we?”  
The sharpshooter cupped my face with his hands. He was... visibly worried, anxious, even a bit scared.  
“We're in a shitty, empty room at the fourth floor and you were...”  
I absently looked around and I gasped seeing the bloodstains on the wooden floor. Like in my nightmare...  
“Jes! Oh, Saints there's blood on the floor! I dreamed about this, I...”  
“Inej... _you_ are bleeding...”  
“I... what?”  
“Your feet...”  
An intense stab of pain completely awoke me, making me realize: my feet were bleeding. I had walked in my sleep, reaching that room, and danced for hours, barefoot on the old, wooden floor. A feeble cry came out of my mouth, while I frantically grabbed Jesper's nightshirt.  
He took me in his arms, while Trassel started smelling the bloodstains.  
“In my bathroom there's a good medical kit,” Jesper whispered. “We'll fix this, don't worry.”  
“What time is it?” I asked, as he took me out of the room.  
“It's almost five in the morning.”  
I let a painful sigh out. I had danced for at least four hours.  
  
  
  
My wounds weren't too bad, but Jes had to bandage both my feet and, when the others discovered what happened, they persuaded me to rest.  
I didn't want to stay inside alone, so I took Trassel with me and I decided to spend some time in the little reading room at the fourth floor.  
It was a very cosy, nice room, whose skylight window offered a quiet view on the lake.  
I tried to read for a while, but soon, the terrible, past night forced me to take a little nap, crouched on the soft armchair, Trassel laid at my feet.  
His presence seemed to work a bit, since no terrifying dreams came to bother my sleep, but quiet didn't last long. Suddenly, Trassel started barking furiously, giving me an abrupt awake.  
I winced, blinking, and I brought my hand to my eyes, to rub them. My fingers met something smooth and solid, something that wasn't my skin.  
Trembling, I cupped my own face with both of my hands. A cry came out of my mouth: I was wearing a mask. Someone put a mask on my face while I was sleeping. Or it appeared from nowhere, who knows.  
I tore it off, tossing it away, and I looked around, expecting to see the figure who was haunting me those days. However, there was no one in the room, apart from me and Trass.  
The wolf wasn't even paying attention to me: he was jumping in front of the window, barking, scratching the glass with his nails.  
There was something that bothered him, outside.  
I stood up from the armchair, hissing in pain when my whole weight pressed on my injured feet, and I limped towards him.  
My dark eyes widened: a little, blonde figure, wearing a light blue dress, was walking on the roof, laughing.  
“Inga!” I screamed, opening the window. “Inga, what are you doing? It's dangerous!”  
I immediately understood something was wrong: she didn't hear me, she didn't even turn her face. She was talking to an invisible presence and seemed to be unaware of everything that surrounded her.  
“Inga!”  
I had to do something. Whatever had taken her on the roof, it hadn't good intentions.  
I went out of the window, kneeling on the shingles. I took a deep breath, then, bared my feet, mentally preparing to a necessary torture.  
The slippers I was wearing gave me a slight relief, but they weren't good to walk on that surface.  
Clenching my teeth, I started moving as rapid as I could, proceeding on all fours when the pain became unbearable.  
“Inga!”  
She was a few metres ahead me. Step by step, she was approaching the edge.  
Screaming in pain, I made a couple of long jumps.  
She stretched her arm forward, trying to catch something over the edge. One more step and she would have fallen down.  
My hands grabbed her by her waist, as I fell on my knees. In that moment, she finally awoke.  
A loud, terrified scream came out of her mouth. She turned around, wrapping her arms around me and hiding her face against my shoulder. She kept on screaming for a while, trembling, wetting my sleeve with her warm tears.  
“It's okay...” I murmured, caressing her long, blonde hair. “It's okay, I'm here...”  
I soon realized I was trembling too...  
  
  
  
And then... it came. The seventh night. The last night in the house.  
It wasn't meant to be the last, in our original plans, but it made us realize we couldn't stay there any longer.  
I went to sleep at one o'clock, but, nearly an hour after, I woke up in another room. Again.  
I had no idea where I was.  
The floor was a plain, dark surface and the walls were... mirrors. I was surrounded by mirrors.  
And my clothes... my violet nightgown had been replaced by a black, period dress, a dress I had never seen before.  
There was a single door, in that room. I ran to it, frantically grabbing the handle.  
“No...” I whispered, my voice broken. “No, no, no...”  
It was closed. I was trapped.  
“Help!” I cried, starting to desperately punch the door. “Please, someone help me!”  
“Dance” said a cold, ghostly voice behind me.  
I turned around, feeling like my heart was about to get out of my chest.  
The masked figure was there.  
I was trapped in a room with them. This time, I had no way to escape.  
“Dance.” they repeated, stretching their clawed hands towards me. Their voice stabbed my ears, like thousands sharp, little ice splinters.  
“Let me go!” I screamed back, my back pressed against the door. “Stay away from me!”  
“Dance!” they insisted, angrily. “Dance until... death!”  
They started to walk, slowly approaching me. I hadn't my knives with me, I had nothing but my bare hands.  
I took a defensive position, ready to face them once for all. I knew I had no chances, but, at least, I wouldn't have been a prey. I wouldn't have died before fighting with all my strengths.  
Their claws snapped towards my throat, but I avoided them, I rolled on the floor to the left side and, in a matter of moments, I stood up again, fists raised.  
A pang of pain and a wet sensation under my right foot made me realize one of my wounds had reopened. But I didn't dare to look down, nor to mind it.  
The masked figure pointed at me and, before I could do anything, I was lifted into the air and thrown against the door.  
A fierce pain on my right elbow, my shoulder and my head.  
I fell to the floor, dazed, a whistle tormented both my ears. I tried to stand up, even thought I felt my legs weak and unstable.  
I didn't even realized it. My mouth opened and I yelled, I called a name.  
The figure bended over me. His crooked fingers a few inches from my neck.  
“Kaz!”  
Suddenly, the door opened and I lost my balance, landing in someone's arms. I immediately recognised his scent.  
“Kaz!” I screamed. “Close the door! Close the door!”  
He did it, using the handle of his cane, while he was hugging me with his free arm. My ear was pressed against his chest and I could hear his heartbeats.  
“Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice low and hoarse.  
I parted from him, trying to regularise my breathing. The period dress had disappeared, I was wearing my nightgown again.  
“My... my foot...”  
He didn't even let me finish my sentence: he took me in his arms, lifting me up.  
“We're going to leave from this cursed place” he whispered, a mix of shock, fear and anger in his voice. “Now.”  
“Kaz... I can walk by myself...”  
He didn't listen. Limping as fast as he could, he walked down several stairways, until we reached the ground floor.  
Somehow I was not surprised, finding all our friends there, in the same moment. They all looked terrified, shocked, they all felt it was time to leave.  
Only Wylan, Kuwei and Inga, who hugged a very upset Trass, wore a pair of socks, the other were all barefoot like me.  
Jesper and Matthias weren't even wearing a shirt and the Fjerdan's right arm was bleeding.  
Nina, who was holding a crying Aenya in her arms, wore a pink, badly fastened peignoir, that exposed part of her lingerie. She immediately widened her green eyes, seeing me in Kaz's arms.  
“Inej! Are you...”  
“Let's go!” Kaz interrupted her. “Let's go away from this fucking place!”  
“That was exactly what I was going to suggest!” Jesper replied.  
“Kaz, put me down,” I told him, as he opened the front door. “I can walk.”  
“You cannot walk on the ground with an open wound” he replied.  
“Let me carry her on my back,” Matthias proposed.  
“Don't tell bullshit, Helvar, how can you take her with that arm?”  
“A single arm is enough, to me, to hold Inej. We'll proceed faster.”  
Kaz opened his mouth to reply, when a furious growl, that came from inside the house, made us winced. Whatever was hiding into it, all the beings that tormented us those days, weren't happy to see us leaving.  
Kaz finally accepted to let Matthias carry me on his large back and we started running across the large garden.  
The air was filled with rangeful howls and screams.  
Running through the woods was the worst part of our escape. The branches of the trees looked like into claws, ready to grab us. I could swear I saw many of them moving.  
I suddenly heard a scream and I looked back, seeing Wylan had just stumbled, falling on the ground. For a moment, I had the impression something was dragging him backwards, but Jesper rapidly helped him to stand up again and, hand in hand, they rapidly reached us.  
We had nothing with us. Only the few clothes we were wearing. And Kaz's cane.  
Seeing the boats made me feel a slight relief, but I knew we wouldn't have been safe until we put as much distance as we could from us and that cursed island.  
“Love, you cannot row, with that arm” Nina told Matthias, once we sat on the boat. “I'll do it for you. Keep Aeny.”  
I took the other pair of oars, giving a quick glance to the other two boats, to make sure we all had made it. We had.  
Me and Nina started rowing, taking a little time to synchronize our movements, while Matthias was calming down Aenya, cradling her and whispering her reassuring words.  
I instinctively took a quick look at the shore, that was further and further away.  
And I saw it: the masked figure, standing still, their hollow eyes fixed on me.  
They seemed to let me go with a promise: I wouldn't have escaped them twice, if I had come back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are with the first tale!  
> Hope you liked it!  
> Who will be the next Crow to tell their tale? Which horrors did they face in the haunted house?  
> Thanks to everyone who read, to everyone who sent kudos and to everyone who commented! 💕
> 
> Lynn


	4. WYLAN. The poltergeist (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry i took a bit to write this chapter, I struggle a bit with Wylan's POV.  
> Hope you'll like it anyway!
> 
> Lynn

I hadn't ever been in that house. And yet, I felt like I already knew it well, when we arrived.  
It wasn't because of the map I had studied those days: somehow, I remembered in details the description Uncle Karl gave of it, that single time we met.  
I didn't know how it was possible, since I was only a child, at that time. I didn't even remember well my uncle's face, but every single words he told me about the house was perfectly stuck in my mind.  
When I found myself in front of that immense manor, I instinctively smiled.  
_“Hi,”_ I thought. _“We finally meet, then. Face to face.”_  
A sudden, weird feeling filled my chest. I don't know how but... I felt... I felt like the house didn't greet me back.  
In the same moment, Trassel started growling and a tiny voice in my head told me it didn't matter I was a Van Eck, it didn't matter my name was on the property contract.  
I wasn't welcome there.  
  
  
  
“You told us almost every room has a story...”  
Matthias had just taken Aenya's cradle in his and Nina's room, with little to no effort. He placed it next to the huge bed and fixed the little sheet and pillow.  
“Yes, that's what my uncle told me” I replied, holding the little girl in my arms and checking if the room was clean and tidy.  
People who worked for my uncle left quite quickly after his death, but they had done a good job. After days, there was almost no dust on the floor and furnitures.  
Matthias straightened his back, smiling. He wore the sleeves of his shirt rolled up, baring his huge forearms.  
“I wonder if there's a story also for this one” he said.  
“Oh, yes, there is!” I answered, approaching him, as Aenya started playing with my bow tie, undoing it. “It was the room of a Khaelish lady, over a century ago. She almost never went out of it. I don't know if she was willing to stay inside or if her family kept her locked.”  
“The second option would be atrocious” the Fjerdan commented, approaching us. Seeing him, Aenya's mouth curved in a wide smile and she immediately stretched her little arms towards him, joyfully shrieking.  
“Yes, love!” Matthias replied with a squeaky voice, as I let him take the baby girl in his arms. “Come to papa, love!”  
His blue eyes were filled with adoration, as she started touching his beard, laughing.  
“I'll go to check the others' rooms” I smiled, kissing Aenya's plump cheek, before walking out of the bedroom.  
I almost reached the staircase, when a sudden, loud thud made me gasp. I turned around: one of the paintings on the wall had just fallen.  
“Wylan?”  
Matthias's giant figure appeared in the aisle: “Is everything okay?”  
“Yes,” I answered, approaching the fallen painting and carefully kneeling. “This painting has fallen. It made me loose years of life...”  
“Be careful,” the giant said, as Aenya started to playfully bite his jaw. “Are there many splinters?”  
I checked the glass that protected the accurate representation of the manor.  
“Actually... no. Not even a scratch.”  
I placed the painting at its place, staring at it for a while. The glass had to be extremely resistant, to survive to such a fall.  
“Well... that's good,” I commented. “We won't risk to get hurt.”  
“Definitely.” the Fjerdan replied, kissing his daughter's forehead.  
I felt his concern: those days, Aenya had learnt to crawl on the floor. If the glass had broken, she would have risked to injury herself far worse than all of us.  
I gave her and Matthias a smile, then I reached the staircase again. Suddenly, when I placed my hand on the handrail, I felt a thrill running down my back.  
But it was only for a moment.  
  
  
  
I couldn't sleep, that night.  
The bed was quite cosy, the room was large and elegant and there wasn't any noise that could bother my sleep, from the outside  
And yet, I laid awake, on my side, with my eyes open and Jesper's arm around my waist. I couldn't help but stare at the closed door, as I was expecting to see it opening by moments.  
Suddenly, some weird, faint but clear noises started to tickle my ears. I gasped, clenching Jesper's wrist and shaking it.  
“Jes...” I whispered. “Jes... do you hear this?”  
My boyfriend grumbled, slowly moving his legs: “Mmh... what?”  
“These... noises...” I replied, anxiety raising into my chest. “Don't you hear them too? What can they be?”  
“Nina and Matthias, probably.”  
“No, Jes... it's not _that_ kind of noises... it's more like... steps... furnitures dragged on the floor... voices...”  
Before I could finish my sentence, the portrait next to the door, that represented uncle Karl during his youth, fell, in the same way of the painting outside of Nina and Matthias' bedroom.  
Jes winced, as I swore behind my teeth.  
“What the...” he murmured. “Stupid portrait...”  
“It happened this morning too, shortly after we arrived,” I explained. “There's... there's something weird in this house...”  
“Well, it's quite old, I would be surprise it hadn't any problem... do you want me to put the portrait back at its place?”  
“No, no... I'll do it.”  
Maybe I had just been paranoic. Maybe my constant fear to be unworthy of my family's name made me imagine everything, even that a house was telling me I was unwelcome.  
I approached the fallen portrait, feeling incredibly naive and stupid.  
“I'm probably a bit nervous,” I commented, hanging the picture on the wall. As I expected, the glass was perfectly intact: uncle Karl or the ones who lived there before him had obviously found a very good artisan.  
I stared at uncle Karl's portrait for a while: I didn't remember him well, since the only time I saw him I was only a child, but I had a memory of a tall, skinny man, whose red hair were turning grey.  
I couldn't help but notice his younger self looked a lot like me: his big, blue eyes, his soft auburn locks, the freckles on his nose...  
Yes... we looked much alike...  
“Wy?”  
A hand on my shoulder made me wince, like I had just woken up from a long, deep dream.  
“J-Jes?” I murmured. “You scared me...”  
“Oh, you have no idea how much _you_ scared me, merchling,” he replied.  
“I did... what?”  
Jesper frowned: “I fell asleep again, while you were fixing the portrait. When I woke up, you were still standing in front of it.”  
I blinked confusedly: “I... I have just put it at his place...”  
“No, Wy. It was about one o'clock when you went out of the bed. You have been standing there for an hour...”  
I looked at the round clock on the wall: five minutes past two.  
I froze: “How... how is it possible? I thought...”  
Did I feel asleep in front of the portrait, managing somehow to stand on my feet?  
“I cannot understand...” I murmured.  
Jesper placed the inners side of his wrist on my forehead, checking my temperature: “You're so pale... do you feel sick?”  
“No, no... I'm just... confused...” I shrugged. “Maybe I'm just a bit stressed. I feel the project on this house as a huge responsibility...”  
“We're here to help you,” my boyfriend smiled, kissing the tip of my nose. “Come back to bed, merchling. You need to rest, we've got a lot of things to do, this weeks.”  
  
  
  
I didn't feel well rested at all, the next morning. Jes had to call me twice to wake me up and, when we went to the kitchen, almost all our friends were already there, except for Inej and Nina.  
“Good morning!” Kuwei smiled. He and Inga were in front of the stove, both wearing an apron. A delicious smell of coffee, tea and pancakes was filling the room.  
“Tea or coffee?” the little girl asked.  
I let myself fall on a chair. In front of me, Matthias gave me a little smile: he was feeding Aenya, who was sat on his lap, with some fruit yogurt.  
“Coffee,” I murmured, rubbing my hands on my face. “Double coffee, maybe.”  
“You've got horrible eyebags, Wylan,” Kaz said, giving me a quick glance over the newspaper he was reading. “Did you stay awake, last night?”  
“I... I had a strange night... I heard...”  
“Noises?” Matthias asked, raising his blue eyes on me. He stopped the hand that was holding the teaspoon with yogurt in mid air and Aenya immediately grabbed his wrist, protesting with a little shriek. He smiled, approaching the little spoon to her mouth.  
“Sorry, love... what were you saying, Wylan?”  
“I heard noises. Do you hear them too?”  
The Fjerdan nodded: “I woke up more than once because of weird noises. I also tried to check where they come from, but I found nothing.”  
“Inej saw someone in her bedroom, tonight” Kaz added, making all of us wince. “But we found no one.”  
“This house is quite old,” Kuwei suggested, placing a plate full of pancakes on the table. “It's not so unusual to old houses to make weird noises, I heard some too, last night. Not to mention the design here is somewhat... spooky. I think it's easier to let scary thoughts influence us.”  
“You're probably right” I sighed, thanking Inga with a smile when she took me a large cup of coffee. I frowned a bit seeing she was looking at someone behind my back, a little smirk on her lips.  
“Are you okay, Inga?” I asked, turning around.  
She widened her smile: “Oh... oh, yes.”  
She seemed to be about to add something, when Inej and Nina entered the kitchen, with Trass by their side.  
“Good morning, ladies!” Jes greeted them. “How are you?”  
“Kaz told us you didn't sleep well too, Inej,” I said, taking a sip of coffee.  
The young woman shrugged, taking place between Kaz and Jes: “I... I think I was just tired.”  
She actually looked much more nervous than she wanted to show, but I decided not to force her to share her thoughts.  
Once we finished our breakfast, I went back to my and Jes' bedroom, to pick my painting set. That morning I had to repaint the walls of the bathrooms at the first two floors and I was quite excited, but I soon realized there was something wrong.  
Before going downstairs to have breakfast, I had left the painting set on the bedroom but, once I entered the room, it wasn't there any more.  
“What the...” I murmured, starting to frantically looking around.  
“Jes! I called. “Jes, do you...”  
I got no answer, but I didn't need it: my painting set box was on the top of the large wardrobe that faced our bed. I frowned: how did it end up over there? Maybe Jes just played me a prank...  
“That's so funny...” I commented, grabbing a chair and placing it next to the wardrobe. I mounted on the chair, stretching my arms to grab the box, but I soon realized I also had to raise on my toes.  
I suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable, in a precarious balance. And then... that sensation again, the sensation there was something behind my back. Something that was slowly approaching me.  
I froze, completely unable to turn around. My limbs stilled, I had the impression to be trapped into a block of ice. I could barely breathe.  
Light steps behind me. Rustles. My uncle's portrait fell again. And then, something cold, two cold, scrawny hands, grabbed my bare ankles, making me scream.  
I lost my balance and fell backwards, stiffening my muscles, expecting the painful impact with the ground.  
But instead, I landed into familiar arms, hitting my back against someone's chest.  
“Merchling!”  
I turned my head, so I could look into Jes' eyes. My whole body was trembling.  
“J-Jes...” I whispered. “There... there was...”  
“What, in the good name of Aunt Eva, were you doing?”  
“I...”  
I looked around, expecting to see my mysterious attacker, but there was no one in the room, except for us. And, what was even weirder, Uncle Karl's portrait was still on the wall.  
Was it possible Ihad imagined everything?  
“I needed my painting set. Did you put it over there?”  
Jesper frowned, his eyes going from me, to the box on the wardrobe: “No, I didn't. Wait, I'll take it down for you. Are you okay?”  
I took a deep breath, nodding: “Yes, I'm fine.”  
The double coffee effect hadn't probably started working yet. I told myself that frightful experience had to be a consequences of the previous night.  
But there was something I still couldn't explain: who put my painting set on the top of the wardrobe?  
  
  
  
My suspects grew deeper in my mind the following days. And it wasn't because of the objects that kept on disappearing and reappearing in wrong places: all my friends had started to act weirdly, they looked nervous, restless, the moved around the house like they expected to be attacked by moments.  
Jes was not excluded. From the second night, I noticed there was something different in his glance, I could read a pinch of anxiety in his greenish-grey eyes, especially when he found himself in front of a mirror.  
It was about midnight when I laid on the bed, physically exhausted but, for some reasons, not sleepy as I expected.  
“Are you okay, Jes?”  
My boyfriend, who was sitting on the mattress, his back rested against the headboard of the bed, nodded in a distract manned, his eyes fixed ahead. He didn't seem to be okay at all.  
I propped up on my left elbow, giving him a worried glance: “Are you sure?”  
Jesper shook his head, blinking: “Yes, yes, I was just thinking...”  
“Thinking of...?”  
He gave a quick nod at the mirror that had been fixed next to the wardrobe, on the left. From my perspective I could see my bedside table reflected on its surface.  
“Thinking of... the mirror?”  
“I find it creepy...”  
“Creepy?”  
I frowned waiting for an answer, but Jes shrugged, laying down: “Just an impression. Better trying to sleep, we've got so much things to do these days. Goodnight, merchling.”  
“Goodnight...”  
It wasn't typical of Jes, being so elusive, there was clearly something more about his impressions on the “creepiness” of the mirror. But, at the moment, I didn't try to investigate, Maybe I didn't want to do it because... because I was afraid. Afraid of being forced to admit that his impressions were so much similar to _my_ impressions. And if we both felt there was something weird, something bad in that house... maybe... maybe we were right. Maybe it wasn't just an impression.  
Those thoughts were scary, too scary. That's why I made a terrible mistake, deciding to suppress them.  
I managed to sleep for about four hours, then, out of nothing, I woke up, feeling terribly thirsty.  
I took a look at the bedside table, swearing behind my teeth when I noticed I forgot to bring a bottle of water.  
Snorting, I slowly got up, rubbing my eyes and paying attention not to wake Jes, then, barefoot, I walked out of the room, going downstairs to the kitchen.  
The unnatural silence that surrounded me made several thrills run down my back, but I kept on repeating myself to not get impressed.  
It was just a house. Just a house.  
I reached the kitchen with no troubles and, for a while, I almost felt relieved, so relieved I didn't even feel the necessity to turn the light on. I took a small bottle of water out of the fridge and I opened it, taking a few sips.  
It was in that moment I heard a noise behind me.  
My fingers clenched the bottle so hard my knuckles almost went white. I slowly turned around.  
There was no one in the room... no one I could see. But I felt that presence... I felt it clearly.  
“Who is it?” I asked, my voice trembling.  
I got no answer for a while. Then, the table started to move. At its own will.  
I widened my eyes, almost forgetting to breathe. Yes, the table was moving. It made little movements, little sprints, hitting some of the chairs around it.  
Little sprints towards me.  
At the same moment, the clock hands started to spin, faster and faster, and the sink trembled, spitting a disgusting flush of dark water.  
I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out of it.  
The table moved faster, reaching me, hitting me on the stomach and taking my breath away. I lost the grip on the bottle, that fell to the floor, crashing, and, soon after, my knees were on the glass chippings. Tears ran down my cheek, my arms were wrapped around my aching stomach and the skin of my legs was filled with small, painful injuries.  
Before I could do anything, I felt a hand grabbing my hair, fiercely tugging them. It was in that moment I found the strength to scream.  
The light turned on and somehow... somehow I realized I was still standing on my feet, with the intact bottle in my hand.  
“Hey!”  
Kuwei entered the kitchen, giving me a little smile and approaching the fridge: “Are you hungry too?”  
I blinked confusedly, looking around: the table and the chairs were at their place and the clock hands diligently indicated it was seven minutes past four in the morning.  
No traces of blood on my pants, no stomach pains...  
“Wylan?”  
I shook my head, awakening from my thoughts: “I... I just went to take a sip... I should keep a bottle on the bedside table, at night...”  
“Yeah, the weather is so hot,” my friend commented, picking a small strawberry pastry.  
A doubt started to torment my mind.  
“Kuwei... didn't you hear anything weird, tonight?”  
The Inferni shook his head, swallowing the first bite of his pastry: “No, why?”  
How was it possible? Didn't he hear the table moving? Didn't he hear me scream?  
I looked at the bottle in my hand. There was no explanation on what I lived just a few moments before.  
“Nothing. It doesn't matter. Goodnight, Kuwei.”  
I went back to my bedroom, trying to repeat myself again that I had imagined everything, that my mind had played me a cruel trick, that it was just an impression.  
But, deep in my soul, I had already started to doubt about those words.  
  
  



	5. WYLAN. The poltergeist (Part 2)

On the afternoon of the third day, I decided to spend some time out of the house, hoping to distance myself from the weird and scary things that happened inside.  
I sat on the lake shore with Jesper and Matthias and, for some moments, I felt almost reassured and safe.  
“How is Nina?” Jes asked lazily, yawning and lying on the grass on his right side. “She struggled to sleep last night too, I met her in the aisle at three am...”  
“She's taking a bath with Aeny,” Matthias replied, with a smile. “Mother and daughter moment. About last night... it was weird I didn't wake up when Nina left the room...”  
“Well, at least you seem the only one who's able to sleep a bit, at night...” I said.  
“Mh...”  
Matthias laid back, folding his large hands beneath his nape: “Actually, I don't sleep well at all... I'm having a lot of nightmares... and sometimes... I feel like I'm trapped into them and I cannot wake up...”  
“Oh...”  
I thought of my first night in the house, when I stared for an hour in front of Uncle Karl's portrait, and I shivered.  
“I hoped a vacation would have helped us to relax a bit...”  
“Not your fault, merchling,” Jesper said, closing his eyes. “Your uncle had very creepy tastes and his house seems to come from a ghost tale.”  
I opened my mouth to reply, when I noticed both he and Matthias had fallen asleep. In the same moment.  
I sighed, wrapping my arms around my bended legs, and I looked ahead, observing the quietness of the lake.  
And then... my attention was caught by a weird movement, a ripple in the middle of the lake.  
I blinked: there was no wind, that day, and there weren't rivers that flowed into the lake. It was absurd and yet, there was a little hole, a little reel in the exact centre of it.  
A little reel that started to expand, slowly but creepily.  
“Guys...” I murmured. “Guys, can you see it too?”  
No answers.  
I looked at Jes, then at Matthias: they were both sleeping, deeply and peacefully.  
I gently shook them, calling them more than once, but they didn't wake up. That was very weird, especially in Matthias' case: he was used to wake up at the slightest noise.  
“Guys...”  
The reel grew, bigger and bigger, the waters turned black. The sky went grey and a strong, howling wind started to blow, carrying thousands, spooky voices on its wings.  
I was frozen, terrified, and I couldn't help but stare. The quiet lake had sudden turned into a dark maelstrom.  
The voices called my name. They told me horrible things, they tried to persuade me to dive into the deadly waters.  
I covered my hears, pressing firmly with my hands. Tears started to fall down my cheeks, I opened my mouth to cry, but no sound came out of it.  
I couldn't move, I couldn't cry, I couldn't escape. I could only close my eyes, hoping it would have been over soon.  
A big, warm hand suddenly touched my arm, making me winced. A sudden, strong light hurt my eyes, so I hid my face behind my hands.  
“Hey, Wylan...”  
I slowly found the courage to lower my hands and look around. The sun was shining again, the lake was quiet and clean. No howling wind, no evil voices.  
“Are you okay?”  
I took some deep breaths, nodding. Matthias was staring at me with a worried face.  
“I... I just had...”  
Jesper woke up too, yawning: “What's happening? Hey, merchling, you look awful...”  
“Thank you,” I replied sarcastically, with trembling voice.  
“I mean,” he said, a little smirk on his lips. “You look like someone who has just seen a ghost.”  
_“Not a ghost”_ , I thought. _“Maybe something even worse...”  
_“I have probably fallen asleep while I was still sitting,” I guessed, trying to persuade myself. “And I had a nightmare.”  
“Welcome to the club,” Matthias replied, gently patting my shoulder.  
I tried to give him a little smile, but I bet I only made a weird face. I could tell myself for thousands times I had dreamed or imagined everything, but there was a stronger voice in my head that was suggesting me a scary, painful truth: neither the outside was safe.  
The whole island was a theatre to the terrifying, mysterious phenomena of Uncle Karl's house.  
  
  
  
The bandages wrapped around Inej's feet should have probably persuade us to leave. I still don't know how could we resist a whole week, there.  
Jes' mood was getting worse day by day, he was silent, distant, constantly wary, and finding Inej with bleeding feet, after dancing the whole night in a room... well, it didn't help at all.  
That morning, after breakfast, he was in our bathroom, washing his face, and he was obviously avoiding to look at the mirror. He had to do some works in the library with Matthias, an indoor job, so he was wearing a nice, light green shirt and bright blue pants.  
I approached him, hugging him from behind, resting my face against his back. One of his wet hands gently touched my wrists.  
“Are you okay, merchling?” he murmured.  
I sighed: “Yes. I mean, no. I'm scared by things that are happening here. And Inej...”  
Jes dried his hands and face with a towel, then he slowly turned around, hugging me back: “I know. I'm scared too. I hope this job will be finished soon.”  
He leaned down, kissing my lips and, for a moment, I almost forgot all the problems we were facing since we stepped into Uncle Karl's house.  
Parting from his mouth was the hardest thing to do.  
“I have to go, now,” he whispered.  
I watched him walking away, sighing. I was sure it was going to be a very long day and not only because I had to tidy the loft. What happened to Inej made me realize that the influence the house had on us was more dangerous than we thought, because it could actually injury us.  
The painful wounds under her feet weren't a mere vision, they were real.  
I left the room, walking to the loft, sighing. Nina was already there, waiting for me, her hair tied up in a messy ponytail.  
She forced herself to smile, but it was obvious she was worried for Inej.  
“Come on, Wy, we've got a lot of work to do!” she said.  
The loft was huge and filled with... everything. I had no idea why Uncle Karl kept all that stuff there, the majority of that things didn't even belong to him, but to the previous owners of the manor.  
“Saints, look at this!” Nina exclaimed, showing me a white, creepy mask she found in an old chest. “Who would wear it?”  
“A serial killer?” I suggested. “I think we can put it in the trash, it scares me.”  
“Good idea.”  
We spent a couple of hours deciding the fate of the things we found, putting the ones we had to throw away in a corner. Then, we started to clean the room and, for a while, I almost forgot the creepy events that happened. Almost...  
I was polishing the small, triangular windows with a cloth, humming the _Kruge Lullaby_. Through the glass, looking down, I could see part of the lower roof, the garden and... the lake.  
A thrill ran down my back.  
_“It was all your imagination,”_ I tried to tell myself, thinking of the vision I had, while sitting on the shore with Jes and Matthias. _“It wasn't real... it wasn't...”  
_My eyes widened: there was something over there, or better, someone. Someone who was walking towards the dark, quiet waters. Someone who wasn't any of my friends.  
Actually... that someone was me. I was watching myself slowly walking in the garden, nearer and nearer to the lake.  
The vision stopped for a while and turned his head, looking up. Looking at me.  
The cloth fell off my hand. My jaw dropped.  
I couldn't see well the face of my double, but I knew, somehow, he was smiling. A creepy smile that went from ear to ear.  
He kept on walking. The water submerged his feet, then, it reached his knees... his waist... his neck...  
In front of my horrified eyes, the waters swallowed him and... and a sudden cold, deadly sensation filled my body.  
I could feel cold water entering my lungs, taking my breath away.  
I tried to open my mouth to call Nina, to ask for help, but a terrified scream brought me back to reality.  
“Wylan!” Nina yelled, shaking me. “Wylan, Saints! The roof!”  
I blinked, opening the window and leaning out with half of my body.  
“Ghezen!”  
Inej was on the opposite edge, hugging a visibly scared Inga. A small trail of bloodstains on the tiles led to my friend's injured feet.  
“Let me pass!” Nina cried, pulling me, in panic.  
“No, wait,” I said. “I'll go first.”  
I went out of the window and I crawled on all fours towards the two girls.  
“Inej! Inga!”  
The Wraith turned her head, giving me a small smile: “We're fine, now, she's safe.”  
“What happened?”  
The blonde, little girl, was crying on my friend's shoulder: “Duncan lied to me... he said we were going to play a funny game...”  
“Who is Duncan?” I asked, frowning.  
Inga just kept sobbing.  
  
  
  


The last night. Ghezen, the horrors of the last night still haunt my dreams.  
I don't think it's a coincidence we all decided to leave the same night, gathering at the entrance in the same moment.  
Some hours before our escape, I took a sleeping pill, since the previous nights I struggled too much to sleep.  
However, the effect of the pill lasted for an hour or two. At least, that was what I thought.  
I woke up in the darkness, with an unpleasant sense of anxiety rising in my chest. I slowly rolled onto the other side, to cuddle with Jes, but his side of the bed was empty.  
I frowned, touching the mattress: it was cold, that meant Jesper had left the room a good while before.  
A sudden, slight noise made my heart lose a beat. The closet door opened slowly, in front of my terrified eyes. Then, it closed with a loud thud, that made me jolt.  
“J-Jes?” I called, trembling. “If this is a joke, it's not funny...”  
Part of me was foolishly hoping it was just my boyfriend playing me a prank, but I knew it wasn't him.  
The closet door opened and closed again.  
I jumped out of the bed, trying to escape from the room, but the door slammed, trapping me inside.  
“No!” I cried, shaking the handle and punching the dark wood of the door. “No, no, no! Jes! Help me!”  
The drawers soon followed the example of the closet door, opening and closing; the light of the lamp turned on and off, the bed slithered back and forth.  
The whole room was filled with the noises of a creepy orchestra.  
I pressed my hands against my ears, crying, pleading to stop. The window opened and a howling, cold wind came inside.  
“Stop!” I yelled. “Stop, please!”  
I was petrified, helpless. I was trapped into a nightmare and I had no idea how to escape from it.  
Suddenly, someone grabbed my wrist, yelling my name.  
I screamed, fighting and fidgeting.  
“Leave me alone! Leave me alone!”  
“WYLAN!”  
The noises finally stopped. I opened my eyes, realizing I was struggling against... Jesper.  
When did he arrive?  
“Jes! The room!” I cried. “Everything was moving and the door was closed and...”  
“Wy, stop fidgeting and come inside!”  
“Come... what?”  
I suddenly realized the situation: I wasn't crying in front of the closed door of our room. I was sitting astride the window.  
Trembling, I let Jesper help me, then, I hid my face against his chest, sobbing.  
“We must go away from here,” he said. “Now.”  
I didn't reply. I just nodded and, in a few moments, we were already running in the hall, meeting Matthias and Nina who looked as scared as us. Little Aenya was crying in her mother's arms.  
“We must leave,” Matthias said, anticipating us.  
“Yes,” Jes said. “You're bleeding! What happened to your arm?”  
“I'll tell you later. I'm going to get Inga, Trass and Kuwei, now.”  
“I'll come with you. Merchling, Nina, wait for us at the entrance.”  
We obeyed, running downstairs, side by side. I wanted to offer myself to carry Aenya, but my arms and legs were trembling and I was afraid to lose my grip or fall.  
When we reached the entrance, we waited for the others for a couple of minutes, but those minutes seemed to last years.  
Kuwei and Inga looked terrified and Trassel was fidgeting and barking furiously.  
“Kaz and Inej!” Jesper panted. “Haven't they...”  
“There!” I yelled, pointing at our friends, who had just appeared on the stairway.  
Seeing Inej in Kaz's arms, Nina widened her green eyes.  
“Inej! Are you...”  
“Let's go!” Kaz interrupted her. “Let's go away from this fucking place!”  
“That was exactly what I was going to suggest!” Jes replied.  
“Kaz, put me down,” Inej told him. “I can walk.”  
“You cannot walk on the ground with an open wound” he replied, opening the door.  
“Let me carry her on my back,” Matthias proposed.  
“Don't tell bullshit, Helvar, how can you take her with that arm?”  
“A single arm is enough, to me, to hold Inej. We'll proceed faster.”  
A terrifying growl, coming from the guts of the house, made us wince. As fast as we could, we ran away, across the garden and then into the woods.  
Spooky howls and angry screams filled the air.  
Suddenly, something cold and hard, something that looked like the root of a tree, wrapped around my ankle, making me fall face down to the ground. A pang of pain hit my hands, knees and stomach hard.  
I screamed, as the root dragged me backward, filling my skin with cuts.  
“Help!”  
I dug my fingers into the dirt, struggling to get free from that deadly grip.  
Then, as a light of hope, Jesp knelt next to me, using his Grisha powers to break the root around my ankle.  
“Hurry up, merchling,” he said, helping me to stand up.  
I barely managed to thank him, as we started running again, reaching the others who were already sitting on the boats.  
It was a pain to me, thinking we had left a lot of our stuff inside the house, but that wasn't the moment to cry. We would have thought later how to recover them.  
I started rowing with all my strengths, without turning back for a single moment.  
But I didn't need to do it. I could hear the voice of the house clearly, in my mind, in my soul.  
_“Don't you dare to come back here!”_ it said. _“Don't you dare!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> Sorry I took so long to update, Wylan's POV is the hardest to me to write, I don't know why, plus I had to deal with lack of inspiration, not so good mood and a project that kept me busy during the whole February.  
> I struggled a bit to write this chapter, hope it has been enjoyable.  
> "The Kruge Lullaby" I mentioned in the text is a reference to one of my One-Shots, "Sometimes children can make better people out of us", it's a lullaby Kaz invented for Aenya while babysitting her.  
> Thanks to everyone who read!
> 
> Lynn


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